How to resurface rotors at home

I have had a few ask me about how to do brake rotors at home DIY. I have followed this process without fail. Have had no problems with method.

Today I will do my KZ 1000 B rear rotor. I restore the rotor over the winter every year. Here are the steps I follow and the finished product. The tools I use are as follows.

1. 4" Grinder
2. 5" Dual Action Sander



1. You will need to identify where the brake pad it contacting the rotor. As you can see the pad is contacting the rotor about a 1/8" in from the top. This unused area will have a lip on it that has to be removed.

You will also see that the inside of rotor about 3/8" is not being contacted by the pad causing a lip.



2. I will use the dual action sander with 60 grit to highlight the high areas only. This is a fast process and takes about 5 minuets for one side of disk. The dark sections are the low spots.



3. When I find the inner and outer lip of the rotor, I will use a 4" grinder with a 100 grit disk and go very slow to remove the lip. This is the area where you can really do damage to the disk. Don't remove to much, The more you remove the more caliper measuring and final sanding you will need to do to true the disk..



4. Now you will go back to the dual action sander with 60 grit disk and start the final sanding. You will see and feel when the sander is flat on disk. See how the surfaced area goes the entire face of the disk, this shows that the disk is being done right and is flat.



5. The finished product will look like this if done correct. You will need a truing stand and hub to get it perfect. It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to do a disk.

If you re-surface the disk, Please use new pads. If you use the old pads, they will cut into the new disk. Don't put old pads back on.



If you have any questions, PM me and I will get back to you.

Spencer

Blanchard grinding (technically rotary surface grinding) is the only way to accurately and safely resurface a stainless steel motorcycle brake rotor.
If you feel that you need to resurface a brake rotor, companies like TrueDisk, LLC are setup to do this quickly and cheaply.

www.truedisk.net/

80B4 wrote: Blanchard grinding (technically rotary surface grinding) is the only way to accurately and safely resurface a stainless steel motorcycle brake rotor.
If you feel that you need to resurface a brake rotor, companies like TrueDisk, LLC are setup to do this quickly and cheaply.

www.truedisk.net/

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Your right, If you want to pay for shipping both ways and labor per rotor? you can have someone do it. Will it be spot on, most likely, will it be within 5 thousandths......maybe, for $74.00 per rotor you can have it done for you.

I called TrueDisk and they want $45.00 per disk with $14.95 return shipping. You still have to pay to ship it there, box it and run it down to shipper, that's about $12.95 using flat rate box at post office.

As for quick and cheap.......really - REALLY.....I can do a rotor for $5.00 in sanding disks in 1 1/2 hours at my home ??????? and they are true with no pulse.

You bring up safety as an issue, what is unsafe about this process? I clearly state that the rotor should be put on a trueing stand and a mic or caliper be used to get rotor trued ? There is little heat generated with the process.

There are many that cant afford to have things done by a machine shop or they take pride in doing it themselves......just letting the forum know that this option is available as one way to address rotor issues. I make no claim that its the best, only or you must do it this way. Is this a process that all can do, NO.....you have to have some idea - tech skill to do it to a high tolerance.....this is up to the bike owner to decide if they wish to tackle it.

As far as "For looks ONLY" goes. The discs look great done this way. To be honest, I've done somethiing very similar in the past. I've found no issues with brake performance, however this is just a cosmetic fix and actually is not surfacing. The surface will look nice, however, it will be far from true.

I appreciate the info. I've been wondering about this. I could buy a new replacement rotor for the price of having one shopped out.

Hell, I did something similar a few years ago. I've used the brakes a lot of times since then with no issues.

A machine shop that can surface flywheels can also surface rotors,usually about $10-$15.00 a rotor if you have access to place that does it.
No reason to pay more than that.

Maybe I need to reread but if things are straight when you start is it difficult to stay that way? Does the material come off quick? I would love to see a video of the process. I have some rotors from my old Concours I could practice on. Bought a new rear one and they are spendy.
Wayne

Should have reread first, most answers were in the original post. If they are pretty decent can you get by with just the sander? Might take more time but it sounds like the control would be easier.
Wayne

kzz1king wrote: Maybe I need to reread but if things are straight when you start is it difficult to stay that way? Does the material come off quick? I would love to see a video of the process. I have some rotors from my old Concours I could practice on. Bought a new rear one and they are spendy.
Wayne

kzz1king wrote: Maybe I need to reread but if things are straight when you start is it difficult to stay that way? Does the material come off quick? I would love to see a video of the process. I have some rotors from my old Concours I could practice on. Bought a new rear one and they are spendy.
Wayne

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I tell you what, I will record the next one I do and post the video. Don't know how soon it will be. I better talk to a lawyer first, as someone on here might sue me?

Good questions: yes, you need to start with a good, solid rotor. If its straight it should stay that way. It comes off really, really slow. The rotor material is hard and doesn't give the material up easy. You could let the sander stay in one spot for 2 min and you might loose 1 or 2 thousandths. If you are new to it, move from 60 grit and go to 80 grit.

You need to sand the entire face equally. I put it on a folded terry cloth towel and rotate the disk as I'm sanding.

You don't need to use the 4" grinder. I did it last year and didn't use it. The front rotors don't take the abuse that the rear does. I use my back more for some reason, probably from racing dirt bikes.....the 80's dirk bikes front brakes were sketchy at best,,,,,LOL The rear seems to be worse at the end of year.

This thread was moderated and cleaned up due to some name calling and a little over-heated debate. Please remember that you can disagree with one and other while remaining civil.

you guys hacked it up bigtime. Lost a whole page?